There were talks held that there could be a problem with the number of German fans in London

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'ABSOLUTE CHAOS'

Cologne fans 'dressed up in Arsenal shirts and brought Red memberships' to sneak into the Emirates

Arsenal CHAOS

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Fan frenzy

Cologne fans take over Emirates with 'up to 10,000 German fans' taking over Arsenal's Clock End stand

Yet still the ground authorities were caught on the hop and failed to pre-empt the situation – despite talks between the two clubs about this potential problem.

Kick-off was delayed by an hour until 9.05pm, as club staff and police held tense negotiations over whether the match should go ahead despite the knowledge that normal crowd segregation measures would be seriously compromised.

There was a small amount of violence with a minority of fans but nothing widespread

Skirmishes were reported and some German supporters knocked down barricades when they were allowed towards the ground, having been held back on the Danny Fiszman Bridge close to the ground.

But this did not feel like the bad of days of hooliganism.

It did not even feel like the last night at Upton Park in May 2016, when West Ham fans caused a similar delay to kick-off by bottling the Manchester United team coach on a congested Green Street, with the visiting team unable to gain entry to the ground on time.

A walk around the outside of the Emirates shortly before the original kick-off time, before the turnstiles finally opened, simply showed thousands of English and German supporters shrugging their shoulders and asking each other politely what the hell was going on.

Some German fans were said to have stormed turnstiles before they were officially allowed to open at 7.45pm.

Fans outside the stadium were left clueless as to why the turnstiles weren't opening

Once supporters were admitted, hundreds of supporters outside the away section were joining in with the German chants – including many in the corporate hospitality boxes.

Some turned their backs and bounced up and down in a massed rendition of the Manchester City ‘Poznan’ routine.

The atmosphere was feverish – nothing like the funereal air most Arsenal fans would have expected for the advent of the Thursday night football which they had finally been sentenced to last May, when Arsenal failed to finish in the Premier League’s top four for the first time in almost two decades.

It is believed many senior stewards did not want the fixture to go ahead but it was decided that it would be safer than postponing the match and disperse the crowd.

united again

By 9.05pm, as the match finally kicked off, there were still thousands of empty seats in the home area – although Arsenal fans with tickets in the Clock End, which had been almost entirely taken over by Cologne supporters, were told by stewards to find places elsewhere.

Nine minutes into the match came an acid test, when Cologne’s Jhon Cordoba opened the scoring.

Hundreds of supporters began celebrating outside of the German-dominated areas but despite some isolated outbursts of anger from home supporters, any violence appeared very limited.

It was believed 'up to 10,000' Cologne supporters took over the Clock End section of the ground

One bearded middle-aged man with librarian looks, sporting a Cologne staff, was frogmarched out of the stadium by seven stewards after being discovered among the Arsenal fans – hardly Harry the Dog of the Millwall Bushwhackers.

And even as their side capsized to defeat, the Cologne supporters never stopped singing.

Far from animosity, there was admiration from the Gooners.

One stood by the press box, marvelling at the away end, and told us: “I remember when we had support like that.”